Sunday, April 1, 2018

On Religious Trends

Focus (the German news magazine) brought up a topic today, which I've been observing for the past decade in Germany.....growth of non-traditional churches in Germany.

At some point, up until about 150 years after the Romans arrived....the Germanic people had free views on religion and had developed various groups.  Then with the Romans....came the Catholic Church, and in this period of Rome-control.....came Jews into what is Germany today.  In the early 1500s....Martin Luther brought the Protestant Church.  In the 1800s and 1900s....there were a few of the lesser groups to appear. 

In the last decade, a few of the American-creation religions have begun to arrive.  An example....the Free Church of International Christian Fellowship.  A bit of prayer, a fair amount of Christian rock music, some readings, and everyone goes home happy.

Mega churches?  The largest one existing in Germany today has 4,000 members.  It's not a big growth thing, but it's obviously taken root.

The style?  Geared mostly to younger people. 

I won't say it's in a massive growth pattern, but it's probably the only religious group in Germany which shows growth, while the majority of older and traditional churches are in a negative number sequence. 

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